Allagoptera caudescens

Allagoptera caudescens, still widely sold under its former name Polyandrococos caudescens, is a solitary feather palm from the Brazilian Atlantic forest with a slim trunk and a full, plumose crown. The fronds are green above and silver beneath, so the whole head flickers between two colours whenever air moves through it. The trunk is patterned by the persistent bases of shed fronds, which stay neat rather than shaggy. It is used as a single specimen where its silhouette can be read from below.

Where this Brazilian palm will actually thrive

Warm, humid and frost free is the brief. Coastal Queensland and northern New South Wales suit it, and it will hold on in a sheltered Sydney garden with a warm wall behind it. In Melbourne, Adelaide or anywhere on the tablelands it is a gamble in open ground and much better handled in a large pot that can be moved under cover for winter. Give it deep soil with plenty of composted organic matter and steady moisture, because a root zone that dries out shows up later as brown frond tips that never recolour. Young plants do better with overhead protection and a mulched root zone, and they accept a more open position once the trunk starts to form. The one thing that ruins this palm is cold, dry wind. A single windy cold snap burns the fronds, and since a palm cannot repair damaged tissue, that damage sits in the crown for a year or more. Plant it where a fence, a wall or established canopy breaks the prevailing wind.

Choosing between the three tropical palms here

Three palms in this range overlap on paper and not at all in practice. Pinanga kuhlii is a clumping understorey palm with many slender canes and a pink new leaf, and it needs deeper protection from exposure than Allagoptera does. Cryosophila warscewiczii carries fans rather than feathers and arms its trunk with branched spines, so it has to be kept clear of foot traffic. Allagoptera is the one to choose when you want a single clean trunk, a feather crown and a palm that can stand on its own in an open bed. If you have paddock scale and live in the far north, Elaeis guineensis is the heavyweight option. None of the three substitutes for the others; the decision comes down to trunk count, spines and how much shelter you can offer.

Frond removal and what to feed a plumose crown

Cut fronds only once they have gone fully brown, taking them close to the trunk without tearing the base away, and leave anything still carrying green tissue in place, because a palm draws nutrients back out of an ageing frond. Never trim into the crown or shorten the emerging spear. Feed through the warm months with a palm fertiliser carrying potassium, magnesium and trace elements, spread over the root zone and watered in. Spotting and yellowing on the oldest fronds is usually potassium shortfall rather than disease, and it corrects slowly across a season. Keep mulch thick but clear of the trunk itself, and in dry weather water deeply and less often rather than briefly and daily.

Choosing a size

This plant is available in 3 sizes, from 250mm up to 400mm, priced from $87.95 to $359.00 per plant. The size shown is the pot the plant arrives in, which is the rootball, not the height of the plant. Every size here is established stock rather than a starter plant, so this line is intended for immediate effect rather than for growing on. Not sure which to choose? Read our guide to when to plant in Australia.